Soloists

Press Cuttings

From the moment the excellent Christ Church Festival Orchestra started playing Mozart's Paris Symphony, they seemed to be playing with heartfelt warmth. Conductor James Ross urgent the players on to ever great heights, ensuring a vigorous and sparkling performance.
Nicola Lisle, The Oxford Times, 9 May 2008

Ravel, Piano Concerto in G: ‘Throughout, there seemed to be a complete meeting of minds between soloist and orchestra. [Soloist Tom Wood] was in his element with this music, playing with great confidence and sparkle. The concert ended with Brahms’s Fourth Symphony: "You’re going to enjoy this", a horn player remarked to a friend in the audience before it started. And indeed there was plenty to enjoy, with conductor James Ross securing excellent ensemble and colour from his forces. Especially memorable was the sense of the first violins whispering through trees at the start, but exploding into a blazing finale.’
Giles Woodforde, The Oxford Times, 24 February 2006

‘Night on a Bare Mountain, for too long thought to be the province of Karajan / Berlin Philharmonic levels of orchestral ensemble, provide a splendid challenge to Ross’s forces. ... A Witches’ Sabbath which packs a punch which makes Weber’s ‘Wolf’s Glen’ scene in Der Freischütz look like a vicarage tea-party. ... [In Rachmaninov, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini] there was beautiful playing, especially in the glorious 18th Variation, in which Ross’s slowed up tempo reminded me of the tremendous pas-de-deux Ashton wrote for his ballet Rhapsody on this music. Finally, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony recalled this orchestra’s Schubert Ninth Symphony last year. There were superb solos from woodwind and (particularly) first horn [Nicholas Ireson], and in the second and final movements Ross developed a rhythm reminiscent of the Statue come to dinner with Don Giovanni. A first-class performance.’
Hugh Vickers, The Oxford Times, 27 February 2005

‘The Gothic stone walls of the Cathedral were playing host to A Russian Night and they certainly did not disappoint their guests. ... One word describes Elizabeth Burgess’ performance. [Rachmaninov, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini] Brilliant! Whilst exuding a supreme self-confidence, Miss Burgess allowed her fingers to gambol and glide freely over the keys in a masterful display, mesmerising the audience and producing a most beautiful sound. ... Miss Burgess was well supported by the orchestra throughout. ... Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5 was performed with professional aplomb by the orchestra, well marshalled by conductor Dr James Ross. It was a sheer pleasure to listen to the crescendos within the four movements reverberating around the Cathedral, providing an effect perhaps akin to the process of reviving the heart via a series of electric shocks. ... The entire performance was very impressive and the evening was a thoroughly enjoyable one.’
Samir Mody, Daily Information, 24/25 February 2005

‘Walking past the ubiquitous hordes of Saturday night revellers, I found myself suddenly caught up in a strong counter-current of people all progressing determinedly towards Christ Church, to hear the Christ Church Festival Orchestra. ... I enjoyed the comparatively novel experience of not feeling marginal in my choice of classical music for Saturday night entertainment. ... The concert opened with Mussorgsky's Night on a Bare Mountain. From the suppressed energy of the pianissimo start, the orchestra romped its way through this work. The musicians revelled in the opportunities for tongue-in-cheek drama and made light of its not inconsiderable challenges. ... From [Tchaikovsky, Symphony No.5’s] angst-ridden opening, the orchestra was entirely convincing in fulfilling the very different challenges of this work and in rendering its directly emotional nature. The strings provided a lovely warm sound throughout. They were particularly impressive performing the ‘love’ theme of the second movement. The brass provided a shattering entry in the return of the ‘fate’ theme.’
Alexandra Coghlan, Cherwell, 25 February 2005

‘The Schubert Symphony (No.9) was an immense test. But from the first, pianissimo horn call, Ross created a structure to match what Schumann called its "heavenly length". And no-one was merely being "careful" - the sizzling string playing in the Scherzo, with its popular Viennese melodies tossed off as in a Weinstube, the bumptious Trio, and the final Allegro taken at a cracking pace - Dr Ross and the orchestra deserve warm congratulations.’
Hugh Vickers, The Oxford Times, 27 February 2004

‘A touch of swank was allowable to James Ross’s orchestra as it closed its account in Oxford Cathedral on Saturday with Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro. This fine-spun work, so full of dangerous harmonies and unremitting demands on string virtuosity, presented every member with a tightrope test. Nobody failed - but this was an outcome long promised. Earlier, the clearly-defined sonorities of Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony had worked sublime effect, as had the cut-glass splendours of the opening moments when the strings, launching Telemann’s Viola Concerto, at once earned our trust. ... The telling balance they struck between Elgar’s glacial radiance and the reticent warmth every English heart responds to, perhaps rested on instinct and insight. The Shostakovich, however, with its long, mournful pedal notes and frenetic dance outbursts, one would have thought demanded maturity, and preferably an imaginative grasp of war’s grief and terror. That these young artists struck deep is tribute to a shared intuition: even more perhaps, to an understanding of the score. It seemed a case of "ars docet". Shostakovich teaches, that is to say, as well as entertains.’
Derek Jole, The Oxford Times, 9 March 2001

‘The latest programme by this eclectic and accomplished orchestra was a refreshing mixture of the relatively unknown and the robustly familiar. Flourish and swagger, lyricism and anger combined in Vaughan Williams’ Wasps Overture. James Ross leapt into his characteristically expressive style and urged both playfulness and drama from an increasingly excited orchestra.… Czárdás was a showy, sentimental and exuberant end to a wonderful concert.’ Aruna Wittmann, Daily Information, 28 November 2000

‘The Firebird is an enchanting piece and the Orchestra did justice to it. I look forward to more performances by this talented Orchestra.’ Daily Information, 26 Feb 2000

‘With sound timing and sensitivity of phrase, James Ross and the Christ Church Festival Orchestra added real emotional resonance to Sir Thomas Allen’s moving account of Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer.’ The Oxford Times, 1 November 1999